Andy Bright

Changes to Blackboard Navigation

Leave a Comment / Blackboard /

To all Blackboard Users,

In August we will be updating Blackboard to incorporate the new Ultra Base Navigation. This new navigation has a sleek, modern look and feel and will save you time with simpler workflows and easier access to important information.

Your courses will not change. They will look and operate exactly as they do now.

What is Ultra Base Navigation?

It is a modern, intuitive navigation menu that lives outside of courses. It includes links to new pages such as the Activity Stream, Calendar, Messages, etc. that provide quick access to the most critical information consolidated from all your courses.

What does this mean for me?

Your Blackboard will automatically be updated. UBN will bring a range of benefits:

  • Modern, intuitive user experience. You and your students will enjoy this simple, intuitive, engaging user experience.
  • Works well on mobile devices. This navigation is designed to work well regardless of which device you’re using.
  • Aggregates important information. All your course and organization information – like calendar, messages and grades – is now consolidated into one global view, minimizing the time spent navigating into each individual course.
  • Only one click away. See something that needs your attention? Just click on it and you will be taken directly there, minimizing clicks and saving time.

This is the first step in the roadmap that will ultimately allow users to trial Ultra courses.

You can view more detail about the benefits of UBN via the document below:

Base_Navigation_Datasheet_Educators

More information will be available from the TEL team at tel@worc.ac.uk

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Blackboard Rollover 2021-22

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Panopto /

Blackboard modules for the 21/22 academic year are now available and ready for you to start working on.
As in previous years you will need to re-register for access to the new modules from the staff web pages – instructions can be found here:
https://lttu.uk/support/Blackboard/Manual/accessing-new-courses.html
We have amended the standard template very slightly to include a link to the Panopto Video tool by default. If you don’t want to use this it can be removed or hidden from students but this is now widely used so we have included in the template for this year.
All modules have the basic template with pre-populated menu items which relate to the University baseline standards . This ensures a level of consistency which is one of the top priorities that students have requested – see our Students’ top tips for Blackboard.

You may want to consider migrating content from last year\’s modules. If you do this, it is very important that you do not roll over the assessment tab or any of the assessments within, as this will cause problems within your grade centre. If you roll over any tests or quizzes please note that these will not be automatically deployed, so you will need to insert them into the appropriate area within your module.

Whilst consistency is an important factor, we recognise that all modules are individual and you may want to look at some of the other tools and functionality available in Blackboard – we have a full online Blackboard guide but if you need any further support from the TEL team, either individually or as a course or module team please contact TEL@worc.ac.uk to arrange a session with an Academic Learning Technologist.

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TEL Training Survey – Closing Soon

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The TEL Training Survey will be closing on Friday 5th March, so there is just one week left to respond, if you have not done so already  (and we would be incredibly grateful if you did!)

We at Technology Enhanced Learning unit have been extremely busy this year and have run many workshops and training sessions to help staff get to grips with the technology they need to use to deliver teaching online.

We would like to evaluate the impact of this training by asking staff who’ve participated in our training offering to answer a few questions to help develop our programme of workshops for the future.

Please follow the link below to complete a short survey which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

https://ucw.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/tel-training-evaluation-and-impact

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Video hosting in Blackboard

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With the move to online teaching this year, many staff have uploaded video resources to Blackboard to support their learning and teaching. Although this is a good idea – videos can be an invaluable learning resource – the video files do quickly consume the available data quota assigned to each module. Often one video will equal a quarter of the total quota.

A far better solution is to host videos via Panopto. This system was launched at the University in September and is available on all Blackboard modules and organisations. As well as video hosting, Panopto can be used for lecture capture, creation of video learning resources and the submission of video and presentation-based assignments.

Find out more about Panopto on our Panopto page .

When you move recordings to Panopto, you will also need to remove existing videos from your modules in order to free up space for other resources. Be sure to remove videos from both the content areas in which they are deployed and the files area, which is where they are stored.

For more information about file management and optimal usage of Blackboard data quotas, please see our earlier blog post Finding your feet with files.

For more information about the topics discussed in this blog post, please email us at tel@worc.ac.uk

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TEL Workshops and Facilitated Discussions

Leave a Comment / Accessibility, Blackboard, Camtasia, Collaborate, Panopto, PebblePad, Training, Vevox, Video /

Between now and the end of March, we will be running a series of online workshops to help staff get to grips with a range of learning technologies.  In addition to our familiar sessions, we will also be running five facilitated discussions covering topics such as moving tuition online, student engagement and best practice using PebblePad. Staff will have the opportunity to share their experiences and learn new approaches from colleagues, guided by members of the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit.

 

Blackboard Made Simple  25th January, 10.15 – 11.15 
Collaborate Virtual Classroom  27th January, 10:15 – 11:15am 
Using Tests and Surveys in Blackboard  3rd February, 10.15 – 11.30 
Blackboard Accessibility and Ally  5th February, 10.15 – 11.30 
Facilitated discussion – moving to online teaching: what works?  8th February, 11.15 – 12.15 
Camtasia  10th February, 10.15 – 11.30 
Using Blackboard for Blended and Mobile Learning  12th February, 10.15 – 11.30 
Recording from your Desktop using Panopto  17th February, 10.15 – 11.30 
Vevox Polling Software  19th February, 10.15 – 1130 
Facilitated discussion: Good practice with PebblePad  3rd March, 10.15 – 11.30 
Assessing student presentations online using Collaborate and Panopto  11th March, 10.15 – 11.30 
Facilitated discussion: approaches to online assessment 17th March, 10.15 – 11.15 
Facilitated discussion: recording teaching sessions tips and tricks  25th March, 10.15 – 11.15 

If you are interested in attending any of these sessions, please sign up via the Staff Development Workshops pages on the staff portal.

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TEL Training Survey

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TEL Training Survey

We at Technology Enhanced Learning unit have been extremely busy this year and have run many workshops and training sessions to help staff get to grips with the technology they need to use to deliver teaching online.

We would like to evaluate the impact of this training by asking staff who\’ve participated in our training offering to answer a few questions to help develop our programme of workshops for the future.

Please follow the link below to complete a short survey which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

https://ucw.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/tel-training-evaluation-and-impact

TEL Training Survey Read More »

Technology Enhanced Learning Support Sessions for Academics

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Camtasia, Collaborate, Panopto, Training, Turnitin, Vevox /

Following the government announcement that Universities should move to online teaching by 9th December, we thought it would be a good time to reinstate the TEL drop-in sessions for academic staff via Collaborate.

 We know that it can be daunting moving your tuition online and sometimes it’s not always clear where to begin, or how to effectively adapt your materials for online delivery so that your students still get the most out of your sessions.

That’s why the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit will be offering drop-in sessions over the next four weeks for academics to pop in and speak to us. We’ll be there to listen to your requirements and help you bounce ideas around for moving your sessions online successfully. We’ll be able to offer suggestions on various tools that you can use to achieve your learning objectives and offer expertise on how to adapt your existing face to face sessions so that they run smoothly when you come to delivering them online.

Sessions will run from 10am-11am every Tuesday and Thursday, with the first taking place on Tuesday 24th November and the final session on Thursday 17th December. There\’s no need to book. Just click on the link below to access the sessions:

Join Drop-in Session

As ever, make sure that you are using either Chrome or Firefox to join.

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Save the Date! – ‘TEL’ Me More Seminar

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Camtasia, Collaborate, Conferences, Panopto, Training, Turnitin, Vevox /

On Wednesday 16th December, the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit will be hosting their annual ‘TEL’ Me More Seminar.

The event, which was originally planned for March, will be fully online and colleagues from across the University will be showcasing their use of technology as part of their learning and teaching.

With the current environment, online teaching has grown significantly over the past several months and this event will provide a fantastic opportunity to network with colleagues from different areas of academia, generate ideas and learn new skills, which you can take forward in to your own learning and teaching.

To secure your place, sign up via the ‘Staff Development Workshops’ page.

Full programme details will be released shortly.

Are you interested in presenting at the seminar? We currently have one slot available. If you would like to present (no more than 10 minutes), please email tel@worc.ac.uk with a short summary of your presentation.

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Blackboard Housekeeping

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A little later than usual, it is time for our annual Blackboard Housekeeping.

Please be aware that we will be deleting modules from the academic year 16-17 on 16th November. We will also be deleting all organisations with a 2016 or 2017 date against them. If you have any resources that you need to rescue, please log in and download them (or migrate to a newer module) before 16th November.

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